By LEONARD GRAY Staff Reporter

LAPLACE – Jobless rates in the River Parishes climbed during November, according to figures just released by the Louisiana Department of Labor.

The parish with the lowest rate in Louisiana was Lafourche with 3.1 percent, unchanged from October. West Carroll Parish had the highest at 14.7 percent, up from 11.9 percent in October.

Across the board, the River Parishes’ rates all went up.

The least amount of change from October to November was in St. Charles Parish, where a 4.8 percent unemployment figure went to 5.2 percent in November. in St. John the Baptist Parish, the figure went from 6.5 to 7.0 percent. In St. James Parish, the largest change was recorded, from 9.4 to 10.2 percent.

Across the region, an estimated 300 new unemployed persons were reported by the Labor Department’s survey.

For the New Orleans metropolitan region, the lowest unemployment rate was reported from St. Tammany Parish, at 3.8 percent.

Statewide, rates remained at 5.4 percent, a cut as well from 2002’s figure of 6.0 percent.

The state’s civilian labor force increased by 1,400 persons during the month to 2,047,000, with an increase of 1,500 in total employment to 1,935,000 and a decrease of 100 in total unemployed to 112,800 persons.